Russia is buying artillery shells from North Korea, US intel says, a sign of desperation as sanctions bite

• The New York Times has seen a declassified report that says Russia has purchased weapons from North Korea.

• Experts said it was a sign that Putin was facing severe shortages.

• UK intelligence says that sanctions are causing supply issues for drones.

According to a New York Times report, Russia has been forced to buy bullets from North Korea because of global sanctions.

The NYT said that the deal included millions of shells and rockets, but there was no further information on when or exactly what had been purchased.

According to an unnamed US official, the move is a sign that the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.

According to a confidential report from the Russian government, international sanctions are hitting the Russian economy much harder than the Kremlin is willing to admit.

According to a UK Ministry of Defense intelligence memo released on Tuesday, Russia isstruggling to maintain stock of drones, a situation it said was likely worsened by sanctions.

—Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 6, 2022

The Institute for the Study of War lead, Mason Clark, told the Times that the Kremlin should be worried about buying from North Korea.

The UN Security Council banned the import or export of weapons in 2009.

According to The Washington Post, Russian drones malfunctioned after they were delivered.

19fortyfive reported that Russia's approach to its invasion of Ukraine has been a lot of shelling.

According to a report published by the Royal United Services Institute, Russian forces were getting through 20,000 shells per day, compared to 6,000 used by the Ukrainians.

According to the report's authors, Russia had a large amount of weapons from the Soviet era and was able to make them under sanctions.

Russia has generally been outgunned by Ukraine by a large margin throughout the invasion.

On August 15 of this year, the Korean peninsula's independence day, the Kremlin and North Korea exchanged messages of cooperation. Kim said that Russia and North Korea had a common front to frustrate the hostile forces.

Russian state media said in August that North Korea was ready to send 100,000 volunteers to help in the war in Ukraine.

Business Insider has an article on it.